A White Paper Revolution

By Taylor Schanz

At the end of 2022, thousands of protestors took to the streets across eighteen different cities in China.[1] Instead of protest signs, individuals were holding blank white A4 paper, calling for the Chinese government to end its zero-COVID policy.[2] While protests are not an uncommon occurrence in China, this was the first time since the failed pro-democracy movement in 1989 that a protest has reached this magnitude and earned the name “white paper revolution.”[3]

The white paper revolution sparked after a fire erupted in an apartment building in the city of Urumqi, located in the Western region of Xinjiang, China.[4] The fire injured nine people and left ten dead.[5] While local officials reported that the fatalities were not due to the COVID restrictions, many were unconvinced that it did not play a part.[6]  Urumqi and the building had been in a state of lockdown for a series of months.[7] Under China’s zero-COVID policy, the Chinese government has taken severe measures since the start of the pandemic to efficiently eliminate COVID-19 infections, such as imposing strict quarantines and lockdowns.[8] In November of 2022 over 300 million people were under some form of lockdown in China.[9] As such, individuals have been unable to physically leave their homes due to their doors locked from the outside or doors sealed shut.[10]

After the fire, there was wide speculation that residents of the building were unable to get out because of the locked doors and physical barriers slowed down rescue efforts.[11] Unsettled and fed up, people congregated to the streets to mourn those that lost their lives and began to protest their opposition to the strict lockdowns.[12] Individuals held up blank sheets of paper to signify their outcry with the COVID restrictions, but also to protest against censorship and limited free speech.[13] The blank sheets do not have any writing because the Chinese government imposed strict censorship restrictions and penalties.[14] Additionally, many protestors were inspired by the Hong Kong anti-government demonstrators in 2020.[15] Protestors in Hong Kong used blank pieces of paper after a national security law was passed to suppress dissent against the Chinese government.[16]

Instead of protest signs, individuals were holding blank white A4 paper, calling for the Chinese government to end its zero-COVID policy. Courtesy Shutterstock.

While authorities attempted to quash protests with limited luck, the Chinse government responded in a rare concession a month after the white paper revolution started and began to tone down the harsh COVID restrictions.[17] As an attempt to soothe social discord as well as growing economic concerns, the Chinese government started to alter their approach to the COVID-19 virus.[18] In early December, the Chinese government “gave the green light to local authorities to lift lockdowns and end mass quarantine and testing procedures.”[19] Further, instead of locking down entire cities, the government will instead place specific districts in lockdown.[20] The length of lockdowns was also relaxed, which is now only five days if no new cases are detected.[21] This change was significant because individuals were left in lockdowns that would drag on for months with little to no information provided.[22]

Even though the retraction of the zero-COVID policy is a positive step for the protestors’ mission, the complete and sudden change in policy did not occur without consequences. For the three years under the original policy, China focused its efforts on lockdowns, contract tracing, quarantining sick individuals, and testing facilities as opposed to increasing hospital and clinic infrastructure and medical staff.[23] The lack of infrastructure has led the country to experience a peak in inflection rates and an increase in hospitalization.[24] As such, hospitals, funeral homes, and crematoriums are overwhelmed.[25] Chinese health authorities report that eight in ten people have caught COVID since early December, with a reported death toll of 72,000.[26] This is also due to in part to many Chinese citizens not developing any form of herd immunity after avoiding the virus for so long, increasing the risk of obtaining a severe illness.[27] China faces a double-edged sword of whether to relax COVID restrictions or to go back to its zero-tolerance policy, risking citizen resentment and potential upheaval.[28] 

While it remains unknown how China will handle its current infection crisis with COVID-19, China’s COVID-19 policy has notably changed in a short few months along with its response to social uprisal. There is no question that the white paper revolution has truly left its mark.

[1] The Daily, What It’s Like Inside One of China’s Protests, N.Y. Times (Nov. 30, 2022), https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/30/podcasts/the-daily/china-protests-zero-covid-xi.html.

[2] Julia Shapero, What is the white paper revolution? Hill (Nov. 30, 2022), https://thehill.com/policy/international/3757010-what-is-the-white-paper-revolution/.

[3] Lily Kuo, Why China dumped its ‘zero covid’ policy so suddenly — and disastrously, Wash. Post (Jan. 19, 2023), https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/01/19/why-china-ended-zero-covid/.

[4] The Daily, supra note 1.

[5] Id.

[6] Id.

[7] Id.

[8]  Kuo, supra note 3.

[9] The Daily, supra note 1.

[10] The Daily, supra note 1; Kuo, supra note 3.

[11] Kuo, supra note 3.

[12] BBC, A quick guide to China’s Covid rule changes (Dec. 7, 2022), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-63781716.

[13] Id.

[14] Chang Che & Amy Chang Chien, Memes, Puns and Blank Sheets of Paper: China’s Creative Acts of Protes, N.Y. Times (Nov. 28, 2022), https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/28/world/asia/china-protests-blank-sheets.html.

[15] Id.

[16] BBC, supra note 12.

[17] Id.

[18] Jing Wei, China's 2022: A year of lockdowns, protests and mass COVID-19 infections, RFA (Dec. 31, 2022), https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/china-yearender-12312022224134.html.

[19] Id.

[20] Kuo, supra note 3.

[21] Id.

[22]APR, Explainer: China’s relaxed ‘zero-COVID’ brings big changes (Dec. 8, 2022), https://apnews.com/article/health-china-covid-government-and-politics-fb77c852a1ab66b0827863c26939cc0f.

[23] Kuo, supra note 3.

[24] Id.

[25] Helen Davidson, Eight in 10 people in China caught Covid since early December, say officials, Guardian (Jan. 23, 2023), https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/23/80-of-people-in-china-caught-covid-since-early-december-say-officials.

[26] Id.

[27] Paul Haenle, China’s Zero COVID Policy Is a Double-Edged Sword, Carnegie (Dec. 1, 2022), https://carnegieendowment.org/2022/12/01/china-s-zero-covid-policy-is-double-edged-sword-pub-88535.

[28] Id.